Another 3D Bomberman game is coming to the Nintendo 64, except this time the game has more action rather than puzzle elements. What's more surprising is the lack of multiplayer Al support--is it even legal to have Bomberman game without a Multiplayer Mode? Yes, but only in two states. Still, the one-player game is fun even in this early version Nintendo recently dropped by with.

The stages have more of a side-scroller feel to them instead of the true 3D ones from Bomberman 64. Of course, you can still walk around in 3D but the camera can't rotate fully around. Most areas are laid out in either a horizontal or vertical format. Other stages (which resemble Star Fox and Snowboard Kids to a certain extent) allow you to use a jetpack, snowboard and marine propeller, among other devices. The object in each stage is to collect crystals (and the standard Bomberman power-ups) and find the exit without getting knocked around too much by enemies and obstacles.

To beat the game you have to do something you've probably done a million times: Rescue a princess. As you might expect, this Bomberman world is filled with an array of strange robotic enemies, and big ol' Bosses like other B-man games. There are a number of puzzle elements in the game but most are quite simple, like hitting a switch to reverse a conveyor belt or using a bomb to make an elevator rise.

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 7.5

Download Bomberman Hero

Nintendo 64

System requirements:

PC compatible

Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

People say:

5

Here's what I don't understand about Bomberman Hero: It's a Bomberman game with no Multiplayer Mode. Bomberman isn't really known for being a magnificent one-player game, so why make a game focusing on just that? It's no secret to anyone who has ever played a Bomberman game that the One-player Modes are only slightly above average, if that. The fun lies within the Multiplayer Mode. Unfortunately, Bomberman Hero is average at best--it isn't even as good as most of its predecessors' iP Modes. Yeah, I may have had moderate fun playing through the game, collecting power-ups and blowing up enemies, but before long I was bored. Then the levels came along where Bomberman uses a jetpack or a submarine, but even those got old fast. I thought maybe the graphics would be good, with maybe some nice textures or effects. Nope. The sound? Maybe that would be fancy, too Nope. Overall, tnis game is a major disappointment. I just can't see spending my hard-earned cash on something so mediocre. All you do in the game is walk around, blow up enemies, find stuff, blow up more enemies and find the exit. If you're a fan of the B-Man and have some extra cash laying around, look into Bomberman Hero. Otherwise, don't even bother. It's a rental, at best.

5

Bomberman Hero is fantastic--as long as you haven't hit puberty yet. The game's ultra-car-toony graphics and, for the most part, easy gameplay may turn off older gamers. That's not to say you should steer clear. The performance-rating system and collectible items up the replay, and this is a fun little adventure if you're between games. The lack of multiplayer is a drag, especially after the disappointing Battle Mode in Bomberman 64.

6

Bomberman Hero is a solid 3D platformer that's less challenging than its predecessor (Bomberman 64), but ultimately more fun to play. The different vehicles you control are cool, but in the end it's the main exploration stuff that's the most fun. The graphics are nice (watch out for fog, though) and the music is upbeat and catchy (typical of B-man games). There's just one key thing missing--where's the multiplayer play?!

5

I can accept the fact that not all Bomberman games have to be multiplayer. (Hey, four-player Bomberman 64 wasn't that great-better to just concentrate on a solid one player experience.) But he's such a cool little dude with such unique skills, he should've been put in a 3D game comparable in quality and depth to Mario 64 or Banjo. This game is too simple and straightforward. It may be better suited for younger gamers.

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 5.5

For those of you who have yet to check out Bomberman 64, you'd better hurry up and get playing-the sequel is already on the way! (Well, in Japan, anyway.) Hudson Soft did however tell us that a U.S. release is planned-they just didn't reveal the publisher. Anyway, we don't have too much info on this new sequel, but we do know that the B-man will now be collecting special parts that can be used to transform him into different forms (that can fly, swim, etc.). Of course, the Battle Mode will be back as well. We'll have more info on this one as It comes to us.

MANUFACTURER - Hudson Soft

THEME - ACTION

NUMBER OF PLAYERS - 1-4

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 6.5

Out now! All new Bomberman! How in Extreme-Jerkyvision!

If you were trying to judge Bomberman Hero just from looking at screenshots (as you might if you were looking at the box in a shop) then you might conclude that it's a fairly good game. After all, it's colourful, the characters are nicely designed, there is a massive number of levels and the graphics aren't bad - aside from the usual slightly muddy effect that many PAL N64 games suffer from. Plus, of course, it's a Bomberman game, and as a rule the big-headed little fellow with the oblong eyes usually holds the promise of something fairly good.

Sadly, if you actually bought the game and took it home, lovingly unwrapped the crisp cellophane and popped the cart into your beloved N64, then when you turned the power on you'd be in for a bit of a disappointment. Of course, you'd know that if you'd bothered to read our import review back in issue 15!

Who Ate All The Pibots?

For the UK version of Bomberman Hero has all the flaws of the Japanese version apart from one - the obvious language problem - but it makes up for that by introducing a few problems of its own -an innate jerkiness and nasty slowdown on some levels. Oh... and did we mention pop-up?

The story (for those who like that sort of thing) is fairly simple. The beautiful if barely animated Princess Millian of Primus Star - having been demoted from Queen since the NTSC version, presumably for wooden acting - has been kidnapped by the evil forces of the Garaden Empire. Rather than sending a huge space fleet to Garaden armed with tactical nukes, the Primus Starians leave the rescue in the hands of that demolition midget Bomberman and his sidekick Pibot.

Of course, rescuing the Princess would never involve anything as simple as just finding her, grabbing her and running. Instead Bomberman must make his way across five planets, each with numerous levels and huge bosses, and several times almost reach the Princess, only to have her snatched from his grasp at the last minute.

Each planet in the game is divided into three different areas, and each area into different levels. What this means is that the levels themselves are fairly short. As result, you can often run right through of the levels in about a minute or so. Now obviously you're not supposed to do this; the idea is to collect all the pink and blue gems, uncover all the secrets, and kill all the bad guys. The only problem is, after the first half-hour or so of playing, there's just no incentive to do this. You soon find yourself running through level after level just to finish each so you can get the game over with!

Explosive Success Or Damp Squib?

There are some nice ideas in the game and some innovative enemies, and Bomberman does respond well. However everything moves like you're playing in treacle - and that's even before the slow-down kicks in! Even the introduction of the power-gear does little to relieve the tedium, and the underwater gear actually makes things worse, the fixed camera angle making these sections particularly unexciting.

Bomberman Hero could have been a good game, but sadly as a result of the speed of play, the uninspiring gameplay and the tedium of many of the levels, it's not. Steer well clear!

2nd rating opinion

What a comedown for Bomberman! The once-great hero has been reduced to taking part in doddlesome platform games. Whatever happened to the fantastic gameptay of SNES Super Bomberman? Come on Hudson, sort it out!

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 8.5

Further tweaks to the 3D platform game, but the multiplayer's gone for a Burton.

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 6.5

Picture this: after the release of Bomberman 64, Hudson Soft gather up all the magazine reviews from
around the world. They check the Internet to see what online gamers have to say. They call in a focus group, who play the game
while sipping tea and munching their way through several packs of biscuits. The end result of all this is that they know what people
consider to be the shortcomings of the first game, and what gamers want out of the next one.

'Improved camera control', goes the wish-list. 'Bigger levels. More challenging puzzles. A multiplayer game that's as good as the one
from SNES Super Bomberman. A general extension of the Bomberman
character's unique videogame characteristics. And, for God's sake, don't make the next one into just another identikit platformer'.

The focus group departs, leaving behind nothing but biscuit crumbs and a strange peaty aroma. Hudson Soft's top suits then sit down
around a big table and ponder the results of their survey. And then completely ignore them.

It's Da Bomb

Bomberman Hero: Queen Milian's Rescue (to give its full title) involves, as even the slowest-witted will no doubt have worked out by
now, the rescuing of Milian, a queen, by the hero, who is Bomberman. The storyline, being in Japanese, the exact details are rather
hard to determine, but from the frequent cut-scenes it appears that some guy in blue armour has kidnapped her majesty for purposes
malign. Only Bomberman and his robot mate, a techno-dancing pommed protagonist leaping around and chucking bombs like a
terrorist version of Mario.

Another change is the camera; going against the grain of Nintendo's intentions for the N64 and those four little yellow buttons on the
controller, Bomberman Hero has only a single camera angle. Although you can doesn't so much possess a learning curve a leftover
from The Space Sentinels, can save her!

The obvious change that has taken place between Bomberman 64 and Bomberman Hero is the addition of... wait for it... a jump
button. Do what? Even though Bomberman 64 was, in terms of looks, a platform game, it at least approached it in an innovative way
by forcing players to make tactical use of their bombs to get around the levels. Bomberman Hero, on the other hand, has the pom-
rotate the camera slightly to judge distances better, 99 per cent of the time you're looking at the levels from one side, the camera
tracking as Bomberman runs around. It's like a stage set - Kenneth Brannagh is Bomberman at the Old Vic!

In order to stop things getting in the way like a basketball player in a top hat in front of you at the cinema, the levels have for the most
part been designed so that potential obstacles don't obscure your view of the action.

When they do, which fortunately happens fairly infrequently, it's all but impossible to work out where you are or exactly what you're
doing, because you can't shift to a better camera angle! The annoying thing is that when this happens, you're invariably either under
attack from Bomberman Hero's numerous wacky monsters, or perilously close to the edge of a ledge above a pool of lava. One slip
and it's Bomberman flambe.

It's-a Me! Bomberman!

The transformation of the Bomberman games from action puzzlers into platform games with bombs is now complete. Bomberman's
controls are all but identical to those of Mario, all that's missing being the traditional bottom-bounce. He can leap like a loon, push
objects around and even dangle precariously from ledges, though how he manages this when his ballshaped hands are noticeably
lacking in dextrous digits is something of a mystery. Although water is still unaccountably lethal (maybe it stifles his fuse or something),
Bombie can now at least wade through shallow pools, so death isn't quite as common as it was in Bomberman 64.

In addition to the numerous platform stages, which make up the bulk of the game, Bomberman Hero also boasts several sub-levels
where the hero in a bobble hat is transformed into a variety of death-dealing vehicles in the manner of the old Centurions cartoon (see
the 'Power Extreme!' boxout). For these levels, the game changes into a kind of mini-Lylat Wars as Bomberman hurtles down the
trench-like levels, shooting everything in sight. Well, maybe 'hurtles' isn't quite the right word. 'Ambles', perhaps, or 'strolls', if you can
be said to stroll in a jetpack.

Also in the style of Lylat Wars, unfortunately, these sections are somewhat on the easy side. With a very few exceptions, where a
specific task (either destroying all the enemies or collecting a certain object) has to be performed, even an irate rhino would have the
necessary joypad dexterity to reach the end of the level.

Lemon Squeezy

In fact, this kind of easiness is something that permeates Bomberman Hero like cigarette smoke in a nightclub. I sense the dread
hand of Nintendo at work, insisting that all N64 games are nice and easy so as not to frustrate anyone. Which is fair enough, so long
as ease in early stages is to allow gamers to get used to the controls and the special tricks of their character before moving on to
more challenging matters.

Bomberman Hero doesn't quite get this right. Things are nice and simple to begin with, allowing gamers to get used to the controls
and the special tricks of their character before moving on to more challenging matters.

Which never appear. The five main worlds of the game flick by almost in a blur, individual stages scarcely even having the time to
register on the retina before Bomberman is through the exit and onto the next. Only the levels that vary from the usual platform formula
- a low-gravity stage where a jump propels Bomberman 50 feet into the air; a room where the platforms can only be seen in a mirror on
the back wall, effectively reversing the controls; a rather annoying pair of levels where Bomberman rides a kangaroo and has to make
carefully-timed jumps from wall to wall to proceed - stick in the memory.

Making the extreme simplicity of completing the levels all the more insulting is their small size. Bomberman 64 at least sprawled a bit,
requiring the player to complete tasks in one section before going back to a previously impassable obstacle. In Bomberman Hero,
once a level is finished, that's it, and it is all too common that a new stage can be entered, explored and departed in just a minute or
two without anything even vaguely obstructive getting in the way. Only the bosses present any kind of challenge, and even they
succumb to your bombs after a couple of attempts. Should you somehow run out of lives, never mind -you've got infinite continues.
The game doesn't so much possess a learning curve as a flatline.

No Challenge TV

While Bomberman Hero improves on its predecessor in some ways - the enemies are more varied, the controls more precise and,
when they move away from the usual platform stuff, the levels have some quite imaginative touches - it is devoid of real challenge.
Sure, some people might whinge (as they did about Yoshi's Story) that the real point of the game isn't just to
finish, it's to collect every gem and find secret items - but if that's the case, why not make the game so that you damn well have to
find everything in the first place? That's why I prefer Mischief Makers to Yoshi's Story - it's still a satisfying
challenge even if you don't go the extra mile for the secrets. Making the player work to reach the exit makes a lot more sense than
just leaving it invitingly open and making vague promises about bonus stuff for the conscientious.

The final problem I have with Bomberman Hero is, quite simply, this: where the hell is the multiplayer game?

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 7

Sequel to the above which makes the huge mistake of being even easier and dispensing entirely with a multiplayer game.

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 8

Uninspiring 3D adventure, but strangely compulsive at times. Up against Banjo, mind, it looks a tad tired. And there's no multiplayer.

When using Salt Bombs, remember that, when they detonate, they have to be directly on top of the slugs (the only enemy they'll work with). Otherwise they're useless.

reggie posted a review

Overall rating: 7

Bomberman Hero is a nice game. It can be substituted for a lazy walk in the afternoon or a traipse through the daisy patch. But if this sounds too tame for you, you should avoid BH at all costs.

The game's problems are fundamental and simple: There's no multiplayer Bomberman game; the 3D action is way too easy; the bosses attack you with easily identifiable patterns, making them a snap to beat; and the saccharine-tinged sweetness of the music will make you wince. Bomber-man 64 was more fun than BH, and it was pretty simple, too--but it had more options, different kinds of bombs, and more varied gameplay. Bomberman Hero is an overtly childish game, and not what a hardcore fan of Bomberman is looking for.

Graphically, the game is painted in basic primary colors, with simplistic shapes making up most of the levels. The bosses are huge polygonal creations, but even their detail is blocky and stiff. As for sounds, a few rise above the mediocre watermark, while most are so cute they grate on your nerves like nails scratching across a blackboard.

BH's controls are basic (and the analog stick works great), but throwing bombs can be haphazard. Jumping is facilitated by keeping an eye on your shadow on the ground.

Bomberman fans will be disappointed, as will action/adventure/platform enthusiasts. Everyone else just won't care that the latest installment of Bomberman fizzled like a dud.

ProTips:

The boss for Primus is a real egghead. Simply get above him and toss a fen bombs on his noggin. You can also try to poner up your bombs and send 'em four at a time, but your throws won't be as precise.

The Kanatia boss is a stone-cold headache. Don't waste time wearing him down--just aim right for his tail, which is his weak spot.

The boss of Planet Bomberman is fast but patterned. Be sure to throw bombs at the block on his chest. Careful! He may move counterclockwise quickly, and those lasers on the ground will hit you.

On Mazone, take this three-part boss down by first knocking Netior off her perch. Then go after the spider (his eye is his weak spot). Netior will return, but you can dispose of her by kicking bombs into her whenever she lands (use the shadows on the ground as guides).